After their stroll, they separated but just before Kai headed home, Erina invited him outside the clan for a little private talk. Akane and Yoko had already left and did not know of this.

"Why can't we just talk here?"

That was the most obvious question to ask.

"You'll see when we get there."

Erina dragged Kai's arm over to the gate and they left the clan.

Where is this girl taking me...?

Kai's questions were immediately answered when he saw a large arena in view.

"I don't think we need to talk inside an arena..."

Erina looked back at him and smiled then continued waking.

Ah, she wants to battle. But, we could've done that in the mock tournament arena...

Kai used [Soul Call] once the arena was in range and found nobody at all and decided it was fine. Kai and Erina walked inside leisurely. It was unguarded because it didn't hold anything important but it is checked every now and then.

"Isn't it illegal to trespass here?"

Erina held her chin.

"It is but if I want to go inside this arena, I can easily do so. Nobody would dare tell me that I'm not allowed to use it but we have to repair it after use."

Erina walked to one side of the stage and gestured for Kai to go to the other.

"Just as you've surmised, we are going to fight. Of course, it isn't a battle to the death but the other side will lose if they are unable to battle or surrender, nothing else. But we do have restrictions for this match, ice attribute only. You can use your non-attribute attacks but you can't use any other attribute other than ice. Also, no weapons other than those created by ice."

Kai thought for a second and then nodded.

I can use this battle to see how normal ice users fight.

Kai sensed Erina's actual level and surprisingly... their magic levels were the same. Kai's eyes widened and he immediately took a stance.

Erina's eyes sharpened and also took her own stance.

"The fight will start once this coin lands."

Erina flicked a coin upwards.

One, two, three, four, five!

The coin landed and Kai immediately leaped.

"[Ice Blade]."

Kai created a blade of ice and slashed horizontally.

Erina took a stance of sheathing a sword from the waist.

"[Ice Blade], Noble Sword: One Thrust!"

Erina formed an ice rapier from her hands and thrust it at Kai's sword.

Kai's attack was stopped in place but with all those years of fighting experience, Kai didn't falter and immediately began attacking once more.

Kai lowered his empty hand.

"[Ice Blade]!"

Now, Kai had one sword overhead and one sword below. He used both swords simultaneously and slashed at Erina.

"Noble Sword: Two Thrusts! "

Erina's hands were too fast that even to Kai, it was only a blur and both of Kai's swords were stopped.

Kai leapt back a few meters.

She's cancelling out the force behind my sword with an equal force, it prevents both of us from taking damage but if my swords are stopped again and she launches an attack, I'd be open.

One of Kai's swords shattered and the other thickened. It became a great sword.

A rapier can cancel out a normal sword with enough skill but she can't make up for the weight difference between the male and female body and the weight of the great sword compared to the rapier.

Kai made an overhead attack.

"Noble Sword: Four Thrusts!"

Erina's hands blurred once more and hit Kai's great sword but it didn't stop, it only lowered the force behind the attack.

BANG

Kai's great sword slammed down on Erina's position but she evaded it by leaping to the side.

"Noble Sword: Eight Thrusts!"

Kai's side was open and Erina didn't miss the chance to attack. But Kai kept his other hand free for a reason.

"[Ice Cage]."

Kai opened his palm on Erina's direction.

Walls of ice raised around Erina rapidly, it blocked her attacks and formed to lock her body in place. First, it raised from in front of her which stopped her attacks, then it appeared from her back to stop her from retreating backwards, then both sides raised up.

Erina was surrounded but they weren't high at all.

Kai closed his palm.

The walls of ice began creating small pillars of ice and struck Erina. It struck her arm and stayed, then the back of her arm, then her shoulder, the sides of her neck, her knees, her legs, and every other joint was covered.

"It's my win."

"Keep dreaming, you're not the only one who can make walls of ice. [Ice Wall]."

Ice raised starting from the floor and destroyed each pillar as they rosed up. Erina, with her newly freed arms pushed out and her [Ice Wall] collided with Kai's. It separated Kai's walls and allowed Erina to go through the corners.

"[Ice Ramp]."

Like the name implied, a ramp made of ice formed in front of Erina and she ran to the top at a fast pace.

Kai raised his palm again.

"[Icicles]."

A dozen or so [Icicles] shot out and headed straight for Erina, they moved faster than Erina could run but with the higher altitude, Erina saw them coming easily.

"Noble Sword: Sixteen Thrusts!"

Erina's rapier hit each icicle accurately and they shattered. The other icicles that weren't a threat to her were left alone and passed by Erina.

"Now, take this! [Ice Pillar]!"

Erina raised her arms and lowered them, Kai saw a shadow underneath him and when he looked up, he found a huge pillar of ice falling down on him. It was big, it was at least five meters wide and several dozen meters tall.

"Not done yet, [Ice Pillar]!"

This time, Erina raised her arms and a pillar of ice appeared below Kai and made it so that it would crush him.

Kai looked at the rapidly approaching pillar of ice above him and closed his eyes. He breathed in and out and appeared below him was a magic circle, it was larger than the pillar's width.

"[Ice Jack]."

Ice formed from Erina's pillar and created a long stick, it was as tall as a staff and below it was a mechanism, it was the same one used to raise cars, the car jack.

Erina's pillars reached their destination with a large rumbling sound but the ice jacks stopped it. And because the pillar that was going down only relied on gravity, when it's force was disturbed, it began toppling to the side. Kai vanished and appeared behind the pillar opposite to Erina.

"Now, take your own attack."

Kai kicked the pillar towards Erina.

"What a troublesome guy! [Ice Ramp]!"

Another ramp formed in front of Erina but instead of just going up, it was like a skateboard ramp that allowed the skateboard to go back because it stretched all the way top and had a curve at the end.

The [Ice Pillar] that was heading straight for Erina hit the ramp and rolled back to Kai.

Kai was getting irritated, at this rate, they'd be juggling this pillar of ice over and over. Kai was falling and had no room to catch the pillar.

Kai created a ball of ice and used it to land faster. Then once he landed, he crossed his arms in front of his head.

"Swordless Style: Cross Cut!"

Kai lowered his raised arms and the pillar was cut in four with a cross.

"I'm going to end this now, it has gotten quite annoying."

"Talk like that when victory is actually assured."

The aura of the two was entirely different to them talking normally.

"Then, [Blizzard]. Let's see how you take on a snow storm filled with deadly ice."

Clouds formed and began a hail storm. There were even [Icicles] mixed in those. It spanned the entire stage as Kai didn't want her escaping.

"Simple! [Ice Dome]!"

Erina raised her arms and a dome of thin ice began forming above them. It also spanned the entire stage and blocked the dropping hail.

[Blizzard] was less effective on her because she could also manipulate ice. The real threat behind [Blizzard] is the lack of vision and the cold but against another ice user, the cold is easily evaded and with proper training, the vision problem is easy.

But now, the arena was dark. Erina kept the dome purposely thin because she wouldn't be able to see without it.

But Kai was different, he could manipulate darkness and had better eyes in the dark than most. Kai had a smirk on his face as he brought his legs together and raised his arms as if presenting something.

"Take my barrage."

Pillars of ice rapidly began forming behind Kai and extended towards Erina, there were dozens of them. [Ice Wall] would stop maybe one or two of these pillars but if all of them head for the wall, it has no chance. It will simply be knocked down and the wall's debris would even harm Erina.

Erina placed her palm in front of her and her fingers moved as if manipulating puppets.

"[Ice Marionettes]!"

Several ice marionettes formed beside Erina and they all held swords.

"Cut through them!"

The marionettes moved with her will and all leaped forward to slice the pillars.

This girl is so troublesome to fight!

Any pillars of ice that were heading for them were cut in half and passed by Erina and any other attacks that Kai throws were also cut.

"Fine, I won't hold back my mana anymore!"

Kai raised his arms again and dozens and dozens of magic circles appeared above him.

Kai made a gun gesture with his hand.

"Bang."

Countless attacks appeared from the magic circles and shot for Erina.

Just before the attacks arrived, Erina clicked her tongue.

"There's no choice!"

Erina closed her eyes and when they opened, her eyes were cyan and her hair turned silver with a glow.

Erina bit her thumb and blood dropped to the floor. And at the spot where her blood fell, a magic circle formed. Then Erina rotated her arm in front of her which left a glowing hollow circle. Then her hand moved fast as she wrote several things inside the circle and it finally formed into a genuine magic circle.

"[------- -----, create a wall to protect me]!"

Crystal clear ice formed in front of Erina, it was thin but each of Kai's attacks didn't leave a scratch. Kai's barrage lasted for several minutes before the magic circles faded. Kai saw that the wall covered her but didn't think it would hold out.

Kai furrowed his brows.

What kind of ice is that? It could actually stand against the coldest ice I could produce... Erina yelled her attack but for some reason, Kai couldn't hear what she had said.

Kai roared and placed a fist on his palm.

"Alright, Erina! Let's see if your wall can take an attack that uses the rest of my mana!"

Kai's mana rapidly drained and an aura appeared around Kai's hand. Erina opened her eyes wide.

The amount of mana he's using is no joke! This wall may be strong but I only used a drop of my blood, it certainly wouldn't hold out against his attack!

"[REND], HAAAAAA!"

Kai aimed his palm at Erina and made a battle cry.

Extremely fast light shot out from Kai's palm and headed straight for Erina's wall. But in the less than the fraction of a second, Erina made a move.

She placed her hand on her waist once more as if unsheathing a sword.

"[I offer my power, ------- -- ----- destroy the attack]! HAAAAAA!"

Erina also roared and light appeared from below her and her hair raised up from the amount of wind that was being produced around her. Her hair and eyes were glowing so bright that Kai couldn't even look directly. But he wouldn't miss, the attack's range was too large and even if Kai's hand moved a bit to the side, it won't affect the trajectory at all.

KISH

Erina's wall was obliterated without much resistance much to Kai's surprise.

Crap, the attack is too strong!

Kai tried to use another spell to try and stop [Rend] but he fell to his knee. The attack had already been released and he had no mana left.

Kai looked at Erina and felt like he saw an incarnation of a person behind her holding a sword.

WHOOOSH

Erina's hand which held a sword sliced horizontally and Kai's attack vanished like it was nothing.

But that's not all, Erina's [Dome] and [Blizzard] was also destroyed. Erina aimed it so that it would not hit Kai but it was too strong and Kai ended up getting hit by the ends of the attack. But Erina's attack had already lost power from clashing with [Rend] and coupled with Kai's tough body, he didn't take much.

But Erina had no time to worry about that, immediately after she used her attack, she collapsed. Even with Kai's tattered body, he leaped to catch Erina's falling body.

"Haaa, that was a close one."

Kai looked at Erina's hair and sure enough, the silver strands increased.

"So that's how it is. But still, this girl sure is stubborn to the point of using even more than mana just to continue fighting. Well, it was good judgment seeing as how she didn't get hit by an attack that could possibly kill her."

Kai could accurately tell someone's magic power but he couldn't see physical power so he wasn't sure. If Erina had the same amount of mana as him, she may have a chance to counter Kai's attack without using that technique in the end.

"Well, I guess I'd have to let her stay the night. I can't let her go home in this state."

Kai would carry her on his back but it would be troublesome to change her position so he carried her as is. That is, princess carry.

"She'd kill me if she finds out."

Kai sighed and headed for the clan. He would have to hide her from everyone so he planned to leap above the walls.

Kai leaping above the walls while princess carrying Erina would later be turned into a myth inside the clan.